Synthesis of Sulfonylated Lactams by Copper-Mediated Aminosulfonylation of 2-Vinylbenzamides with Sodium Sulfinates.

Treatment of 2-vinylbenzamide derivatives with sulfinate sodium in the presence of Cu(NO3)2·3H2O led to an intra/intermolecular aminosulfonylation reaction to produce sulfonylated lactams in moderate to good yields. The developed method features the easily available and stable sulfone reagents, ease of operation, and a broad functional group tolerance.

Assessment of serum arginase I as a type 2 diabetes mellitus diagnosis biomarker in patients.

Previous studies have reported that levels of serum arginase I are increased in certain diseases. However, the exact association between arginase I and diabetes mellitus (DM) has yet to be determined. The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between arginase I activity and DM to determine whether arginase I activity may be used as a diagnostic biomarker for DM. DM was induced by a streptozotocin injection, while the arginase inhibitor, citrulline, was administered daily. Serum levels of glucose, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and arginase I activity were analyzed, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were performed to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of arginase I, respectively. In addition, western blot analysis was used to determine the protein expression of the Tie 2 receptor. Pearson's analysis was used to determine the correlation between arginase I activity and Tie 2 expression, while concordance analysis was performed using the Cohen's test to obtain the Kappa statistic. The results demonstrated that serum arginase I activity levels in the rats with DM were significantly elevated compared with the control group, and positively correlated with the blood glucose levels. In addition, the blood glucose and ROS levels were increased significantly in the rats with DM. Arginase I mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly elevated in the diabetic rats when compared with the control group, and Tie 2 expression levels increased and were shown to correlate with arginase I activity in the diabetic rats. In addition, arginase I activity was shown to correlate with glucose intolerance and post-load glucose values. Good concordance was observed between arginase I activity and the clinical diagnosis for DM (κ=0.876; P<0.001). Therefore, the results indicated that arginase I may function as a diagnostic biomarker for DM rats model.

Pleuropneumonectomy for diffuse pleural metastasis in primary lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to analyze a single institution experience with pleuropneumonectomy for pleural metastasis and malignant pleural effusion in primary lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From August 1978 to August 2011, 66 consecutive patients with lung cancer underwent pleuropneumonectomy. Patients were followed-up after the operation. The quality-of-life and the survival time were recorded. RESULTS: All the 66 patients were successfully operated on, including 38 patients in early years (1978-1993) and 28 patients in recent years (1994-2011). Two patients in early years died after the operation. Post-operative complications occurred including heart arrhythmia, respiratory insufficiency and bacterial infection of residual lung, chylothoraxin and mental disorder. A total of 61 patients have been successfully followed-up and three patients in early years were lost in 1 year after the operation. Local recurrence was found in seven cases (4 in early years, 3 in recent years) and distant metastasis was found in 48 cases (29 in early years, 19 in recent years). A total of 54 patients died from tumors, seven patients survived. The actuarial 1, 2 and 3-year survival rates are 72.7%, 27.2% and 6.1% of 36 in patients of early years and 85.7%, 46.4% and 21.4% in 28 patients of recent years. The mean survival and the median survival of the total 64 patients were 20.0 ± 10.9 months and 17 months respectively. Further analysis showed that the mean survival and the median survival of the 36 patients in early years were 17.2 ± 9.7 months and 15 months, in contrast to 23.4 ± 11.3 months and 18 months of the 28 patients in recent years. CONCLUSION: Pleuropneumonectomy is an option of patients with advanced-stage lung cancer associated with uncontrolled malignant pleural fluid by conservative therapies. Strict selection of patient to be operated, careful procedures to eradicate obvious tumors and metastasis and enhanced post-operative combined therapy are beneficial to patients' long-term survival.